Tanabe Dumkudo

"A vibrant overdrive pedal that’s in the vein of Dumble Overdrive amp tones. With four dials and three modes (Green is ‘Dumble’), it suits blues to hard rock styles."

FAMOUS USERS: Henry Kaiser, Paul Jackson Jr, Dave Kilminster

Providence Stampede DT SDT-2

£216

"This yellow belter kicks out an absolutely superb 80s-style rock distortion with edge and grit aplenty, stopping well short of harshness. At full tilt, it even takes on a very mildly fuzzy edge, which makes it just about everything you wish a modern Boss DS-1 would be. Sure, it’s not cheap, but it’s also extremely, addictively good."

Frantone Peachfuzz

"Hand-made in New York City with bright enamelled cases and a true boutique ethos, this is – for a change – not a Fuzz Face clone. Filthy fuzz: more, more, more!"

FAMOUS USERS: None that we know of

Analogman Sun Face

$185

"Effectively a high-quality Fuzz Face clone with several choices of transistors – germanium or silicon – plus other options. A certain Pink Floyd man has been known to use one."

FAMOUS USERS: David Gilmour, John Mayer

T-Rex ToneBug Totenschlager

£131

"There's a very useful range of distortion on tap here from overdrive-like grit through various shades of grind, to a full-on dirt-fest with plenty of sustain. But the really remarkable thing is the amount of tonal shaping that can come from three tiny faders."

Kingsley Jester

"This Canadian-made, point-to-point wired valve overdrive pedal is loved for the way it interacts with quality valve amps to create a multi-channel monster."

FAMOUS USERS: Jay Beuttner

Twinstomp S21 Overdrive

£189

"Brit brand TwinStomp has been quietly building a reputation as solid as its almost nuclear blast-ready pedals. This dual overdrive offers one softer, rounder, full-sounding classic rock/blues drive, and another with a little more bite to cut through the mix. What you get here are super- high-quality, practical features and a great-sounding pedal to boot."

Durham Electronics Sex Drive

"Designed for Charlie Sexton, this clean booster offers blooming bass and plenty of presence if you want it, with three compression settings."

FAMOUS USERS: Er, Mr Sexton!

Dr. Green By Hayden The Black Death

£109

"What you get with this pedal is distortion that sits very naturally in front of an amp, ranging from a fairly mild overdrive all the way towards the sound of a cranked rock stack. All this is delivered via a tone control covering a sensible frequency range with no nasty surprises.

"While distortion pedals all do the same thing, they each have their own voice, and no two guitarists will probably ever agree which is the best. However, The Black Death has a tone that will surely appeal to plenty."

Lovetone Brown Source

"Lovetone – big pedals to trip over. The Brown Sauce was its classic overdrive and so fits many genres with its swathes of edgy gain."

FAMOUS USERS: Gary Moore, J Mascis, Metallica

Bogner Ecstacy Red Pedal

£249

"The Ecstasy Red pedal delivers the higher-gain modern lead sounds that put Bogner on the map. It has nearly the same controls as the Blue, apart from the mode switch, which has three different gain settings called Tight, Full and Mellow.

"The Ecstasy Red delivers stunning overdrive, from mild, bluesy attack emphasis to the vocal, singing sustain that Bogners are known for, with a lack of fizz and a complex midrange that’s never nasal or peaky. The Red retains nearly all of the dynamic touch- sensitivity of its namesake, making it easy to rein in the aggression by simply backing off on the pick or rolling a little off on the guitar’s volume control."

Providence Sonic Drive SDR

£199

"A lot of pedals claim natural overdrive that beefs up the source guitar without obliterating its character. Well this one delivers just that, with plenty of touch-sensitivity and super audio integrity."

T-Rex Mean Machine Double Distortion

£245

"This is a full- and fat-sounding, rock- orientated distortion machine, with a good punch of upper mids and trebles. The two sides are exactly the same, so you can have one more, and one less, as you wish, thanks to individual level, drive and tone controls. In fact, the only downside is that you can’t have both active at once."

Ethos Overdrive

"If price isn’t an issue, the Ethos is arguably the best and most versatile Dumble chasing pedal available. With clean and drive channels, it’ll do Robben, Larry, Santana…"

FAMOUS USERS: Thaddeus Hogarth, Henry Kaiser, Tomo Fujita

T-Rex Alberta

£155

"A slick variant on the vintage Tube Screamer sound, this overdrive shares that classic pedal’s simplicity. Note separation is outstanding, as is the creamy crunch, and it cleans up nicely throughout the tonal range thanks to a smooth mid-boost. A cleaner alternative for blues-rockers in love with their little green boxes."

FAMOUS USERS: Carlos Santana, Michael Angelo Batio

MXR Custom Badass Modified OD

£99

"The same team behind the successful MXR Custom Badass ’78 Distortion turn their attention to overdrive pedals, adding a 100HZ filter control – designed to help retain the bottom-end when boosting the mids in your tone."

Wampler Ecstasy Overdrive

£169

"The raison d’etre here is to try to squeeze two amps into one little pedal: a Bogner Ecstasy and a Dumble Overdrive Special. That’s some task, but the results just might surprise you!"

FAMOUS USERS: Brent Mason, Johnny Hiland

Boss DN-2 Dyna Drive

£99

"This pedal is as much about dynamics as it is drive –helping a moderately crunchy amp tone become highly responsive to your picking attack."

Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz

"If ever a pedal was made to mix gloopy, old-school fuzzes with modern functionality, this is it. Two modes plus a vicious gain boost function cover most bases."

FAMOUS USERS: James Dean Bradfield, Stephen Carpenter

Marshall Shredmaster

£65+ (used)

"A discontinued pedal that was exceedingly satisfying to use due to its contour control, which allowed drastic shifts in the EQ spectrum that gave gloriously scooped tones. This pedal was an essential part of Radiohead's Bends-era sound."

FAMOUS USERS: Jonny Greenwood, Gaz Coombes, Alex James

Seymour Duncan SFX-01 Pickup Booster

£89.95

"Seymour Duncan’s debut pedal offers flat-EQ gain and is distinguished by a Resonance switch that, if engaged, enables single-coils to take on the tonal characteristics of a fatter humbucker."

FAMOUS USERS: Peter Stroud, Michael Landau, Phil Campbell

Providence SOV-2

£199

"The SOV-2 is among the leading dynamic overdrives around. From slight crunch to singing lead, it’s killer. Rob Harris used it on new Jamiroquai songs Goodbye To My Dancer and Hurtin'."

FAMOUS USERS: Robben Ford, Matt Schofield, Rob Harris

Carl Martin Hot Drive 'N' Boost

£159

"This long-standing pedal in the Danish range offers valve-like crunch to distortion, plus a 20dB clean boost. Great for expanding a single-channel amp to three sounds."

Blackstar HT-Dual

£159

"A high-voltage, valve-driven, two-channel ‘amp expander’ and more. Channel one offers clean or crunch modes; channel two goes from crunch to scream. The ISF control moves from Brit to USA character and you have a usable speaker-emulated output too. It’s also part of Guitarist’s guitar-test rig."

Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive

£49

"Before boutique pedals came along, you might have got this to drive your valve amps to fatter, thicker distortion. Early versions employed the JRC4558D chip of TS-808 fame, though the pedal is less midrange-focused and has more edge to it. It also maintains your guitar’s inherent character to a good degree."

FAMOUS USERS: Edward Van Halen, Zakk Wylde

Fulltone OCD

£149

"Obsessive, compulsive drive – most people who hear the harmonic richness of this box tend to agree. Tired of your Tube Screamer? Want something more refined? Try this now."

MXR Micro Amp

£105

"Sometimes you don’t want tone-changing drive or distortion, you just want a relatively linear kick into the amp to help it on its way. Use this for straight solo boosts or in your effects loop to help weak pedals."

FAMOUS USERS: John Frusciante, Paul Gilbert, The Strokes

Pro Co RAT 2

£89 (Rat 2 reissue)

"Drivey, edgy, fuzzy, unique. A couple of silicon diodes make this an unruly beast that’ll kick any valve amp into life. Massively popular in the 1980s, and for good reason."

Klon Centaur Professional Overdrive

£500+ (used)

"There’s a good reason the Centaur is called the Dumble of distortion pedals. Packing fat midrange boost effects and amazing transparency, the Klon is magic when used with simple 6L6-powered amps. John Mayer, Jim Campilongo and many other ‘feel’ players swear by it.

"It’s now out of production, but designer Bill Finnegan has hinted at a replacement soon. Original models fetch some frankly crazy prices second-hand."

Octavia/o/er

£195 (Dunlop JH-OC1 Octavio)

"Roger Mayer invented the fuzzy, octave-up pedal immortalised in Hendrix’s Purple Haze solo, then Tychobrahe made it widely available in the 1970s. There are lots of new versions, not least from Mayer himself."

Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face

£195 (Jimi Hendrix JHF-1 Fuzz Face)

"Four resistors, three capacitors and two AC128 or NKT275 NPN germanium transistors – hello glorious square-wave fuzz. Shortly later came PNP silicon-loaded Fuzz Faces and then, as now, they were widely modded, cloned and updated. Wildly inconsistent, but Hendrix wouldn’t be the same without one."

Boss DS-1 Distortion

£49

"1978 brought a harder-clipped, edgier Boss pedal in the DS-1, reflecting the trends of higher gain rock and metal. But this isn’t ‘metal’ in the modern sense – it retains character of the source guitar. Hear it all over Vai’s Passion And Warfare and any Nevermind-era Nirvana live recordings."

Maestro FZ-1 Fuzztone

£250+ (used)

"The daddy of all stompboxes: the first commercially produced transistor-based guitar effect pedal and also the first fuzz box. First made in 1962, it took until 1965 to catch on when Keef used one on Satisfaction – and the world of guitar tone was changed forever. The FZ-1 used three germanium transistors to amplify and clip the guitar’s signal creating fuzz, glorious fuzz…"

FAMOUS USERS: Keith Richards, everyone in the '60s!

Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer

£205

"Used widely in genres as diverse as country, blues and shred, this stomper has been on more records, and used in more concerts, than perhaps any other overdrive or distortion pedal.

"The ‘best’ Tube Screamers use the now-fabled JRC4558D IC chip, which drives a rich midrange with smooth clipping characteristics. Most players love it sat in front of a quality valve amplifier. The TS-808 has since spawned endless clones and modded versions."